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          D'Arcy Short encouraged to work on his bowling after Australia omission

          • Andrew McGlashan, Deputy editor, ESPNcricinfoAug 20, 2020, 02:58 AM ET
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              Deputy Editor Andrew arrived at ESPNcricinfo via Manchester and Cape Town, after finding the assistant editor at a weak moment as he watched England's batting collapse in the Newlands Test. Andrew began his cricket writing as a freelance covering Lancashire during 2004 when they were relegated in the County Championship. In fact, they were top of the table when he began reporting on them but things went dramatically downhill. He likes to let people know that he is a supporter of county cricket, a fact his colleagues will testify to and bemoan in equal quantities.

          D'Arcy Short has been encouraged to keep working on his spin bowling by Australia coach Justin Langer after being left out of the limited-overs squad to tour England.

          Short, who has a career-best of 257 in List A cricket, was one of five names cut from the initial 26-man training group announced last month. He was the most notable absentee given he was part of the previous Australia team to take the field, against New Zealand in March, while the tour to England also includes three T20Is, the format Short has enjoyed considerable success in at domestic level.

          The reasoning behind Short's omission has been explained as the fact he was filling Glenn Maxwell's allrounder position in the ODI side earlier this year while there is also a crush for top-order batting roles. Maxwell was ruled out of the South Africa tour due to elbow surgery having earned a recall following time away from the game to manage his mental health.

          ALSO READ: Australian cricket will need to compromise to keep game going - Langer

          Short bowls left-arm wristspin and was used by Aaron Finch in two of the four ODIs he played against South Africa and New Zealand without picking up a wicket. With the bat he was asked to fill a middle-order role and made 69 in Bloemfontein. He had initially been recalled to the squad for the tour to India as a replacement for Sean Abbott but did not play in that series.

          "I saw him [on Wednesday] play a practice game here yesterday in Perth, he played really well again as he keeps doing," Langer said. "With him, he's got the double chance, in the sense that he's competing at the top of the order which we know he can do...and does that really well in domestic cricket [and] we need some allrounders in the middle.

          "And at the moment he's competing with Glenn Maxwell who has come back into the team. He's taken D'Arcy's spot, mainly because we feel more confident getting overs at the moment out of Glenn Maxwell than we do out of Shorty in the middle overs. Shorty is really aware of that. He's working very, very hard on his bowling."

          Short is also unable to squeeze into the reckoning higher up the order at the moment with David Warner, Aaron Finch and Steven Smith established as the top three in ODIs and T20Is while Marnus Labuschagne will take the No. 4 position for the one-dayers.

          Matthew Wade is viewed as a versatile batsman who can cover a number of positions while the uncapped Josh Philippe, one of three new faces in the squad, is another option for the top order if required.

          Langer said that the current supply of top-order options was one of the main reasons why Usman Khawaja continues to be unable to find a way back into the line-up. Khawaja only dropped out of the ODI side because of injury late in last year's World Cup after averaging nearly 50 over a six-month period.

          "The way we're going to split up our game plan at the moment Uzzie is competing with David Warner, Aaron Finch and Steve Smith at the top of the order. And at the moment our view is those guys are getting the nod ahead of him. I'm a massive fan of Usman Khawaja. He had an incredible year last year in white-ball cricket, but unfortunately he has two guys in Steve and David who are coming back into the team and they have the spot at the moment."